“The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental”
– The First Hermetic Principle (from The Kybalion)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The premise that we can obtain anything we want by “thinking it into existence” is an alluring notion that has been co-opted by the Law of Attraction crowd in what looks suspiciously like auto-hypnosis with its roots in The Power of Positive Thinking, the New Thought movement and the theories of Franz Mesmer, coupled with a misreading of Buddha’s statement about the effects of mental predisposition that became “You create your own reality” in New Age parlance.

He did not mean we can “manifest material items out of thin air” but only that “seed thoughts” shape our destiny, a nuance the modern “instant gratification” mindset has conveniently leaped right over on its way to the goal of unimpeded acquisition. Wanting something badly enough is not the key to actually receiving it, we must inhabit the possibility with our whole being led by our mental orientation (which means aligning our actions with our aspirations).

There is no magic bullet or “abracadabra” invocation that will deliver it, we have to pursue it in the old-fashioned “Smith-Barney” way: we must earn it. Entertaining the fanciful belief that we won’t have to work for it if we “wish real hard” could be a precursor to either fulfillment or madness, and my money would be on the latter since a textbook case exists in the discredited “power of positive thinking.”

The Sixth Hermetic Principle, that of Cause and Effect, must be given its due. Desire is a pre-existing condition (some might say a symptom), not a cause, and it must be harnessed to dedicated effort to produce reliable results. As the old saying goes, “There is no free lunch,” and expecting that we can get one without paying for it falls well outside the margin of error in any logical assessment of the probability. As The Kybalion asserts, “nothing escapes the law.”

Only the naive, who are often swindled by opportunists into buying their brand of “snake oil,” fall for this tempting illusion. That a windfall sometimes happens without exerting oneself is pure serendipity, or at best syncronicity that is not likely to be repeated unless the planets once again align of their own accord (or another wealthy relative dies, but of course there are inheritance taxes).

I prefer to call materialistic mentalism “The Principle of Willed Consequences.” If I apply the force of my True Will resolutely enough (according to Aleister Crowley “Thou has no right but to do thy will,” by which he did not mean “satisfy thy wants”) to this-or-that objective I will receive one result or the other, which upon a further infusion of willpower can yield another set of opportunities, and then another in a chain of events eventually leading to the conclusion into which I pour the most concerted mental and physical effort over time. The reward for this degree of unrelenting conviction supported by decisive action is no small achievement since myriad distractions can intervene to waylay our best intentions.

Seven decades of life have taught me that the Universe seldom responds to wheedling; we must first make a move on our own behalf to get its attention. The inertia is there for a reason: we push against its friction (we don’t just “hope-and-pray,” which is at best lubrication), it pushes back and we learn something from the engagement for our next attempt. Without such exertion, we might ask (even nicely) and receive no reply. I once quoted the Everly Brothers regarding idle dreams, and it’s worth repeating here:

“But wishing won’t make it so
I proved it long ago”

Affirmation is not enough of a goad to “move the stars” in our favor, except to the extent that it sparks the motivation to act toward that end. Even George Carlin’s “Ya gotta wanna” will barely “getcha outta” the starting gate on the racetrack of life. Rene Descartes was talking about the mind-body connection, he didn’t say “I want; therefore I get.” With that attitude, we could be waiting for a long time with our hand out and nothing to show for it. It’s probably why many of Norman Vincent Peal’s acolytes succumbed to psychosis when they failed to “grab the brass ring” as promised.

So what recourse do we have if we lack the time and the resources to drop everything and strive for manifestation? We can always subject one of our small ambitions to a daily jolt of dynamic (as opposed to passive) affirmation until it evolves into a major aspiration that takes on a life of its own. Then move on to the next one and beyond.

In other words, proactively do something and don’t suppose that just avidly conjuring its arrival will produce the same effect. Even a minor advance in the right direction on our own initiative can have a greater impact than the most compelling adjuration we can muster while continuing to sit on our hands. The difference between practical and theoretical (aka “armchair”) magic is the amount of hands-on commitment it takes to gain proficiency in the former.

“Let me live only to do
And let me do only to live”
– from Talisman by The Guess Who